MINNESOTA 7, NEW YORK 6 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, May 31.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with two home runs, his thirteenth and fourteenth.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Stan Williams pitched five innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and three walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Danny Cater was 2-for-4.  Pete Ward hit a pinch-hit home run.  Roy White was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Gary Waslewski pitched two perfect innings of relief, striking out one.

The game:  In the second, Cater singled, Thurman Munson reached on an error, and John Ellis walked, loading the bases with one out.  Gene Michael singled home two runs.  Mel Stottlemyre walked, re-loading the bases.  Horace Clarke hit a two-run single to make it 4-0 Yankees.

The Twins came back.  In the bottom of the second, Jim Holt and Leo Cardenas walked and Paul Ratliff singled, cutting the lead to 4-1.  Killebrew homered in the third to make it 4-2.

White homered in the fifth to make it 5-2, but the Twins again came back in the bottom of the inning.  Singles by Jim Kaat, Cesar Tovar, and Carew brought home one run and Tony Oliva doubled in another.  Killebrew walked to load the bases and Rich Reese delivered a two-run single, giving the Twins their first lead at 6-5.  But Ward homered in the seventh to tie it 6-6.

That was the last hit by either team until the tenth, when Cater led off with a single.  A pair of productive outs got him to third, but he was stranded there.  Killebrew led off the tenth with a home run to walk it off for the Twins.

WP:  Williams (5-0).

LP:  Lindy McDaniel (4-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was again in left in place of Brant Alyea and Ratliff was again in place of George Mitterwald.

Carew was batting .394.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .330.  Killebrew was batting .329.  Williams had an ERA of 1.59.

Kaat started and pitched five innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks and striking out two.  Stottlemyre pitched four innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out none.  They batted better than they pitched, going a combined 2-for-4 with a walk and a run.

This tied for the longest relief appearance for Williams this season--he would again go five innings on July 7.  These days, of course, it's common for the starter not to go five innings.

The Twins took two of three from the Yankees in this series.

Record:  The Twins were 31-13, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.